How to make Fish Curry, Goan style

This fish curry is a recipe I picked up on holiday in Southern India when we to a restaurant owned by a chap from Tamil Nadau. He showed me how to cook this dish, because when I tried it, I had enjoyed it so much. He said that it was a traditional recipe his mother had given him, and something that she often made for the family.

If you go to India don't be afraid to try street food, they are clean and healthier to eat at than some of the big hotels, at least you can see what you are getting and it is always fresh. The cooks need to make a living and it is very competative so if their food was not good in any way then they would soon be out of business.

I really do love food, not just eating it, but also cooking and preparing it. Most of the curries I make I will spend an hour or so preparing everything and making sure that the ingredients blend together well.

I don’t think that you can be a good cook without real passion for the food you are preparing. I know not everyone has the time to be able to prepare food correctly, but now and again you should make the effort.

The term curry is not really an Indian word, but one used by the British when they were in India. Today the word is understood by everyone and even Indians use the term curry, although it means different things in different regions.

Normally in India the curries are vegetarian rather than having meat in them, but you do find many different regional fish recipes. In and around Goa for instance they like to use freshwater fish that they can catch in abundance in the rivers and drainage ditches. Really tasty and make a fantastic meal.

I think it is best summed up as a spicy gravy.

I’ve used monk fish because it holds together well during cooking even with the skin removed, it also has lots of flavour which is not completely lost to the spices of the curry.

You can use whatever is your favouite, but treat it carefully or it may just fall apart and be lost in the mix.

Prepare your vegetables, cut and slice onions, red peppers garlic and mushrooms. Wash the fish and set it aside for later.

I like to start cooking the onions first, add ghee to a pan and melt it; add salt and your chopped onions. the salt helps bring some of the water out of the onions and helps them fry. just until they start to go brown, now add the peppers, garlic and stir constantly. Empty them into a dish and put aside. In the same pan add mustard seeds, corriander seeds a bit more ghee. Once the seeds start to pop remove from heat and add 1 teaspoon of Turmeric, 1 teaspoon of Cumin, the cloves, and mix to a paste. I also like to add curry leaves.

Now add the onion mix back in and 1 tin of coconutmilk. You can also add desicated or fresh grated coconut.

!/2 a teaspoon of nutmeg [optional] 1/2 a teaspoon of ginger powder.

Cook your mushrooms in a little ghee, with salt and garlic paste or fresh garlic.

when soft add to the mix.

Keep stirring.

cook for ten minutes and then carefully lay the fish into the gravy, sprinkle with corriander and parsley leaves.

Cook for about 5 minutes, Don't over cook the fish.

I tend to cook mushrooms seperate from the main mix because sometimes they give off a lot of water which can dilute your flavours. mix in the garlic and a couple of teaspoons of flour which will thicken the juice and help thicken the gravy when added.

An ideal accompaniment to this meal is rice, but I always prefer chapattis, which I’m a nab hand at making after 40 years of cooking them. I still can’t get them round though, they usually end up looking as if they been run over rather than rolled out.

Hot black tea is a good drink to accompany this meal; perhaps with a slice of lemon to make it perfect. Or maybe a nice white wine such as a chardonnay.